1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an image forming apparatus. More particularly, the present general inventive concept relates to a transfer unit, which receives an image formed by a developing unit and transfers the image onto a printing medium, an image forming apparatus having the same, and a method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional image forming apparatus can be classified into a mono image forming apparatus to form an image using only black and white, and a color image forming apparatus to form an image using a plurality of colors. Also, according to a developing method, the image forming apparatus can be classified into an inkjet image forming apparatus and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus.
Among the image forming apparatuses as described above, the electrophotographic image forming apparatus is provided with a photoconductive medium, such as a photoconductive drum, a photoconductive belt or the like, a laser scanning unit to scan a laser beam onto the photoconductive medium to form an electrostatic latent image corresponding to a desired image, and a developing unit to develop the electrostatic latent image with a developer, such as a toner.
The image formed on the photoconductive medium can be transferred onto a printing medium through a transfer unit, or directly onto the printing medium. Namely, in a color electrophotographic image forming apparatus, color images which are formed on a single photoconductive medium or a plurality of photoconductive media are transferred in an overlapping manner onto a transfer medium, such as an intermediate transfer belt or the like, of the transfer unit, and then the overlapped color images are transferred onto the printing medium. In a mono electrophotographic image forming apparatus, an image formed on a photoconductive medium is directly transferred onto the printing medium.
The transfer unit includes a transfer medium, such the intermediate transfer belt or the like, a plurality of rollers, and a transfer unit body to accommodate the rollers and the transfer medium. The transfer unit having the construction as described above is mounted in an apparatus body, so that the transfer medium comes in contact with the photoconductive media. To mount or separate the transfer unit in or from the apparatus body, the transfer unit body has more than one handle formed thereon. During mounting, the transfer unit body is pushed into the apparatus body while being slid in the apparatus body, and during separating, the transfer unit body is separated from the apparatus body after a cover of the image forming apparatus is opened. However, to mount or separate the transfer unit in or from the apparatus body as described above, the conventional image forming apparatus is inconvenient in that a user is required to separately lock the transfer unit to the apparatus body or release a locking connection of the transfer unit to the apparatus body. For example, to separate the transfer unit, the user should manipulate a locking-releasing button or lever installed on a certain position, and then separate the transfer unit from the apparatus body while grasping the handle of the transfer unit body with the user's hand.